24/10/2019 to 25/10/2019 - San Francisco / USA

Immediately upon arrival in the city, we started exploring. San Francisco is known for its steep streets. This includes Lombard Street. Part of the street has a slope of 27%, so it was necessary to navigate the road in serpentine pattern. It is considered the "most crooked street in the world." Here, the brakes of our car were put to the test. We then went to one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in San Francisco - Fisherman's Wharf. Cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, and a great view of the Golden Gate Bay awaited us here. We strolled to Pier 39. The special thing about this pier is the sea lions that have settled at some moorings and regularly take a break here. We could hear them howling from a distance, and then we saw them lying in the sun. Directly behind them are the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Now we settled into our home for the next 3 nights. We had a small apartment on the ground floor of a single-family house just outside the city center. We cooked a large pot of spaghetti bolognese and then went to the evening showing of the new film "Joker" at the cinema. The next morning, we got up early because there were still some sights waiting for us. We drove back to Fisherman's Wharf, parked our car, and went to Pier 33. Departure at 9:00 am to Alcatraz Island. In 1852, the first lighthouse on the west coast of the USA was built on the island. In the 1930s, the idea of ​​building a prison on the island arose. Good conditions for this were the currents and water temperatures around the island, which doomed all escape attempts to fail. The prison was operational until 1963, when it was closed due to high costs and is now open for visitation. We arrived on the island, were free to move around, and could take as much time as we wanted. An audio guide led us through the prison, the cells, the dining room, the library, and the administration. Guards and former prisoners vividly told the history of the island and stories of escape attempts and life in one of the toughest prisons. Because "Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz." We spent a very impressive and moving morning on the island and then returned to the mainland. On foot, we tackled steep streets up, down, and up again. In Chinatown, we were suddenly in a different world. At the next street corner, we saw the first cable car. Packed with people, it was once the main form of transportation. Today, there are only 3 lines left, and it mainly serves as a tourist attraction. We visited the Cable Car Museum to see how the cable-driven streetcar system works. We continued walking to Union Square, located in the center of the city. Shops, restaurants, hotels, and theaters are located around the square and in the adjacent streets. We took the cable car over several hills of the city back to Fisherman's Wharf, where our car was waiting for us. One more day was left and one very big attraction was still on our to-do list. The Golden Gate Bridge. With a length of 2.8 kilometers, it was for a long time one of the largest suspension bridges in the world. The bridge, named after the local bay, was opened in 1937 and connects San Francisco with Marin County to the north. We viewed it from several points, walked a piece on it, and of course drove across it.

We enjoyed a impressive conclusion of San Francisco and our trip with Lukas and Jakob from the Twin Peaks. The Golden Gate Bridge was enveloped in fog, the sun set, and the night captured the city and illuminated it with colors.